USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Monson > History of Monson, Massachusetts > Part 7
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The following quotation taken from the King Genealogy written by Harvey B. King in 1897, describes the occupation of William King who settled in the Munn District in 1770: "During the winter season he made wooden casks for holding potash. In the spring he collected wood ashes from the farmers and manufactured potash. (The first process - called leaching - allowed water to drip or wash through the ashes. The water was then evaporated leaving lye or potash. This was a dangerous industry
as the lye would burn human flesh upon contact.) Mr. King transported the potash by team to Norwich, Connecticut, about 40 miles, where there was a ready market for it at $100 per ton. The lye or potash was used for making soap and glass. Mr. King would purchase supplies of sugar, molasses, tea, codfish, rum etc. in quantity, and trade it for the ashes, thus making two profits, showing the traditional Yankee trait."
The assessors' list of November 14, 1774, lists both Joseph Craft and Jonas Mace as owners of potash works.
Much wood was also consumed by the
Bradway Water Turbine
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HISTORY OF MONSON
charcoal kilns. Many farmers had one or more kilns, usually of turf, to supply their own needs. The Springfield Armory pur- chased large quantities of charcoal needed for one process of gun manufacture.
Until about 1910 considerable quanti- ties of charcoal from Monson kilns were transported to East Brimfield and Fiskdale, and used by auger shops in tempering the steel.
The development of the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1839 and the New London Northern Railroad in 1850 created still another demand for wood. Whole farms were purchased and crews of men were kept busy cutting trees for railroad ties, and sawing logs to supply the wood burning locomotives. The May 20, 1887, issue of the Palmer Journal carried this item : "It is estimated that 25,000 railroad ties were cut in Monson the past year."
In the early 1800's the Gage family lived in the south part of town on Crow Hill. Two orphan boys from Springfield were brought out to assist with the summer work. They had need for only one boy through the winter, but as Mr. Gage favored one boy and his wife favored the other, it was diffi- cult to decide. Finally they agreed to send both boys to the shed for wood, and which- ever boy brought back the larger load would stay - Charles Harlem Bradway stayed.
He grew up on the farm and left to work in a woolen mill in Connecticut, return- ing after Mr. Gage's death to run the farm, which he eventually purchased. His son, Charles Phillip Bradway, was born here in 1841. Charles was a bright, mechanically- minded youngster. He watched the farmers gather alders which grew abundantly in the swamp, after which they spent many tedious hours removing the bark with wooden ham- mers. When only 11 years old, he developed a wooden headed hammer operated through a system of belts from a water wheel, and did a thriving business in cleaning the alders, which were then carted to the Hazard Pow- der Company in Enfield, Connecticut, to be ground and used in the manufacture of gun powder.
Four years later, he remodeled the Boy- den Wheel, converting it into a flume wheel. He continued experimenting and sold his first water wheel at the age of 18. About this time he constructed the pond at the base of Peaked Mountain to supply power for an up and down saw mill. Some time later, Mr. Bradway moved to West Stafford, Con-
necticut, and established the water wheel factory still operated by his son Marshall.
Grist mills, which ground corn and other grains, also operated through the 1700's and 1800's - often on the same site with the saw mills. The Hampden County Business Directory for 1876 lists two : S. F. Conant on Wales Road, and H. C. Day on the Lower Palmer Road. H. C. Day's mill (now owned by William C. Moulton) is still listed in the 1897-8 Directory together with Otto C. Davis of Silver Street, and Squier and Co. on Squier Avenue.
Horses provided the principal means of transportation until the automobile came into general use early in 1900. Many small shops, such as those of the carriage maker, leather worker and blacksmith provided em- ployment for many craftsmen. Four car- riage makers are listed in 1876, and at least two were still operating in 1897.
One blacksmith, George Washington Burdick, became known throughout the country. He moved to Monson in 1866 and set up a smithy shop on Mechanic Street where he manufactured stone cutters tools. He was the designer of the "Boss Hammer" used by quarrymen, and which he sold in all parts of the United States and abroad. His son James carried on the business until 1927.
Cider was a popular beverage and Mon- son has had a number of cider mills. Parts of two such mills, both operated by a system of wooden gears and powered by horses, may still be seen. The Clinton Bradway mill is located on the Springfield Rod and Gun Club property, and the second mill is located on the property now owned by Mrs. Andrew Magill.
Another cider mill which will be re- membered by many was operated by the Sullivan Brothers, William and Cornelius, on Mill Street, well into the present century.
Some of the more interesting and un- usual small industries included a shop to extract linseed oil from flax which was lo- cated on the site of A. D. Ellis No. 1 mill about 1800. Bog iron was gathered in Sil- ver Street at a spot known as Cato's pool and carried to a shop just south of the present Polish American Club. Here Joseph and Jeremiah Bumstead converted it into Bar Iron.
Timothy Packard Sr. had a shop near Conant's pond on the Wales Road where he made lead pipe by rolling the lead out in sheets, then molding it around an iron rod,
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HISTORY OF MONSON
after which the seam was soldered the whole length of the pipe. He sold to Mason Moul- ton about 1829.
Thomas Blanchard invented the irregu- lar turning lathe for use of the Armory about 1820, and shortly after this a man named Obed Blanchard started an axe helve (handle) factory in the Silver Street area using a similar lathe. David Hannum made axes at the north factory (site of C. F. Church Company) at one time.
Roswell Merrick started a tannery in 1808 just north of Bethany Cemetery. Stephen Tobey purchased it in 1820, made some improvements, and carried on success- fully for forty years. His son Clinton and R. O. Fenton continued the business until about 1870 when the buildings burned.
Clover was grown extensively and the seed extracted at clover mills. Mention of a clover mill owned by Marsena Munn and Thomas Skinner is made in a petition in the town warrant of April 4, 1803. This mill was located nearly opposite Richard Sutcliffe's farm on the Wales Road. Another mill was operated by David Colton in the vicinity of Colton Hollow in 1839.
Holland's History of Western Massa- chusetts published in 1855 lists the following manufacturers: N. P. Barton who manu- factured tin ware. Rogers and Co., manu- facturers of men's overalls, shirts and drawers, amounting to $300 worth per week; and D. D. Moody who manufactured gold and silver bowed spectacles totaling $10,000 to $16,000 worth annually and em- ployed 7 to 9 hands. D. D. Moody purchased the land and buildings on Main Street (now the site of Gladys Belville's home) from Austin Fuller in 1847. This may have been the site of the spectacle factory. His widow sold to Hamilton White in 1866. The White Brothers ran a tin shop there in addition to their plumbing business. They made the tin spools on which the braid was wound at Merrick and Fay's hat shop.
Mr. Fuller operated a cigar factory in the building just north of the Central Ver- mont Railway station. An experiment in raising mulberry trees for the cultivation of silk worms was popular for a short time. Mulberry trees still grow on the Herbert Battige and Leonard Harrington farms, and the Battige barn is said to have been used for the cultivation of silk worms.
The July 17, 1852, issue of the Palmer Journal announced that Abel Bradway of Moulton Hill, Elizah Valentine of State Ave-
nue, and William Dodge of Palmer had ob- tained a patent for a machine for shaving shingles. The October 16, 1852, issue carried this description of the machine:
"The machine for shaving shingles oc- cupies but little room, may be driven with a two horse power and throws out shingles at the rate of from 20,000 to 30,000 per day, or a better way to state it-as fast as a man can feed the blocks into the machine. Shin- gles are first split in the usual manner, when the machine takes them, forces them through two shaving knives which close upon them in a manner corresponding to the desired taper, and throws them into a pile ready for jointing. The machine sells for about $200."
The September 24, 1853, issue of the paper tells of the sale of the rights to make and use the shingle machine in three West- ern States for $10,000, and sales were then pending amounting to $10,000 more.
About 1843 Jesse Leavens, Molla and James Cowles and Jasper Severance started a window sash and blind factory on State Avenue on the site of the house now lived in by George Russell. Lyrus and Peggy Knox purchased the business in 1847. It was still in existence in 1853 for an item in the Au- gust issue of the Palmer Journal mentions Colonel Knox's sash factory.
Edson Sexton, who purchased the prop- erty in 1865, was also an inventor. The Monson Free Library has the patent, num- ber 64,152, dated April 23, 1867, issued to him for a new and useful improvement in the gang plow.
The remains of a foundation are still visible in the Silver Street area of the woolen mill operated by Lothrop Clark in the mid- dle 1800's. The Business Directory of 1897-8 lists Erastus Davis as a shoddy manufac- turer in the Silver Street District.
D
E
B
C
BRACKET FOLDED
D
B
F
G
W
C
BRACKET OPEN
Danforth Bracket
HISTORY OF MONSON
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Another small woolen mill was located between Fenton Road and the Quaboag Riv- er. Charles F. Grosvenor purchased 12 acres, including water privilege and dam, brick mill, store house and tenement house, from Alice M. Smith in 1892. On May 1, 1893, he together with John Stevens of Ludlow and George T. Greenhalgh of Pawtucket, Rhode Island formed the Grosvenor Woolen Co. This mill operated for about twenty years and was then sold to the Quaboag Leather Company popularly known as the "Leatherboard." Scraps of leather were ground up into sheets which were then sold to firms manufacturing inexpensive leather items.
Ford, Hawkes and Company purchased the property and machinery in 1909 and operated it as a shoddy mill. During the first World War the Achushnet Process Company purchased the plant. They took the scraps from the tire factories and sep- arated the rubber from the cotton with the aid of large beaters. Both the cotton and the rubber were then resold.
The dam which provided the power for this mill has now been blown up to avert
a flood hazard, and fire and the passing of time have destroyed virtually all evidence of this once thriving business site.
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Employees of Hall Monumental Works
The chapter on the Geographical Sketch of the town emphasized the many rocky for- mations. The early homeowners utilized these ledges on their property to provide the foundations for homes, barns, etc.
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An Early Photo of Monson Quarry
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HISTORY OF MONSON
Rufus Flynt
The small quarry located on the proper- ty now owned by Edward Farquhar of Ely Road was first opened by Marcus Chapin and Edward Keep about 1876 for this purpose. George and John Hall purchased the quarry about 1895 and operated it as the Hall Monu- mental Works. They employed about 20 men. A small stone cutting shed was maintained
Hon. William N. Flynt
just north of the Central Vermont Railroad Station by this firm.
Greely Clay and W. N. Flynt Granite Company both worked this quarry for short periods of time. Mandel Swanson was the last man to work this quarry in the 1930's when sidewalk curbing was quarried for the State of Massachusetts.
Flynt Quarry
HISTORY OF MONSON
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The largest and best known quarry is situated on a hill over a mile north of the center of town on what is now the Upper Palmer Road. It covers an area of 300 acres with a working face of 1000 feet in length and 45 feet in height. The geological for- mation is in layers of from one to twelve feet thick which rendered the work of quar- rying easy and rapid. The stone is of two distinct shades: one a dark blue and the other a mottled white. Each was free from iron and polished beautifully.
The quarry was opened about 1809 by the Federal Government to obtain stone for use in building the U. S. Armory in Spring- field, Massachusetts. It then remained idle until 1825, when Rufus Flynt began operat- ing with a gang of five men. The trimmings of the Chicopee Bank in Springfield were of Monson granite and were delivered all the way by ox teams.
His son William took over the manage- ment in 1836. With the opening of the Bos- ton and Albany Railroad in 1839, the de- mand for stone increased and it was de- livered to the station by teams, a distance of three miles.
Many of the workers came from Ire- land and later ones from Italy, where they had worked in quarries from an early age. The work at first was ten hours a day, later nine and then eight, and was seasonal, beginning as soon as the weather permitted,
usually mid March, and continuing until a heavy snow around November. During the winter many men worked in the hat shop and all took credit at the Flynt Company store. The company also ran a boarding house.
In 1875 a railroad track two miles long connecting the quarry with the New London Northern Railroad at a point just south of the Chestnut Street Crossing was con- structed at a cost of $30,000. This enabled the firm to compete in the Boston, New York and Chicago markets.
William N. Flynt retired in 1875 and the business was carried on by his sons, William K., Lyman, George and Rufus, in- corporating under the name of the W. N. Flynt Granite Co. in 1885. In 1888, 30,000 tons of stone valued at $200,000 was quar- ried for shipment. About 200 quarrymen were employed from March to December and an almost equal number were kept at work in the winter.
During the 1920's stone was often cut in Monson which had been quarried in other towns in which the Monson company had an interest. James Moran operated the quarry to a small extent for curbing and trap rock after he purchased the property in 1936. It is still owned by his heirs.
Stone was shipped as far west as To- peka, Kansas and Keokuk, Iowa. The largest
Stone Cutting Sheds at Flynt Quarry
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HISTORY OF MONSON
stone quarried here was 354 feet long, 11 feet wide and four feet thick.
Monson granite was used for construct- ing Memorial Town Hall, Horatio Lyon Me- morial Library, St. Patrick's Church, First Universalist Church, the Flynt and Cushman fountains, as well as the bridge at A. D. Ellis #3 mill, and the bridge on State Street. Both these bridges were des- troyed in the 1955 flood. This stone was also used extensively for foundations of build- ings in this area.
The bridge over the Quaboag River near the wire mill in Palmer; many of the abutments on the Boston and Albany rail- road, and their depots in Palmer and Bos- ton; South Park Avenue M. E. Church in Chicago, Illinois; Congregational Church in Wakefield, Massachusetts; City Hall in Hol- yoke; Saint Francis Xavier Church in New York; Catholic Church in Norwich, Connec- ticut; a High School in East Orange, New Jersey; the Universalist Church in Palmer. and the Hampden County Court House and Hall of Records in Springfield, Massachus- etts, are all constructed of Monson Granite. Ezio DeSantis cut the soldier's monument in Hampden using Antonio Alonzo Sr. as the model.
The W. N. Flynt Granite Co. also op- erated a trap rock quarry at the site known then, as now, as the "Rock House" situated to the southeast of the main quarry.
A small quarry located in the vicinity of Peaked Mountain on the property known as the Captain Cady place was operated to provide stone used in the building of the New London and Northern Railroad.
STRAW HAT INDUSTRY
Charles H. Merrick, youngest son of Gideon and Beulah Merrick, was born in 1812 on a farm located on the present site of Monson State Hospital. He was always interested in mechanical things and worked as a self-taught master weaver in a woolen mill in Wales, and later in Rockville, Con- necticut. During the depression in 1838, he was laid off and returned to Monson by way of Somers, Connecticut.
A palmleaf business had just started in Somers and manufacturing was supposed to be conducted with great secrecy, but Mr. Merrick, by good fortune, gained a sight of one of the few looms for weaving palmleaf then in operation. He was able to obtain seven pounds of leaf for sheets and two pounds for braid.
Aided by the ideas gained at Somers, Mr. Merrick constructed a palm-leaf loom and then hired a woman living on East Hill to begin weaving. Another woman living on the hills to the west began braiding for the young manufacturer, who, at this time, lived near the present C. F. Church Com- pany plant. It was his nightly task to go a mile in one direction for the leaf and a mile in the opposite direction for the braid needed for the next day's work. The style of hat known as Shaker hoods was popular at this time and as no woman could be found to make a model, Mr. Merrick had the honor of cutting and sewing with his own hand the first palmleaf hood made in Massachusetts.
The following year Mr. Merrick's broth-
1
Flynt Quarry Engine
HISTORY OF MONSON
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er-in-law, Rufus Fay, joined the firm which was organized under the name of Merrick and Fay. The new firm moved to the center of town and rented the building on the site of the Spinning Wheel Restaurant. The fami- lies of both partners lived in the front part of the house and the Shaker hood factory was established in the ell. Only three or four girls were employed at first and the hoods had a ready sale at $1 to $1.25 each.
In 1841 the location of the present day high school was purchased and the two-story building located there became the center of manufacture of ladies hats and bonnets from foreign and domestic straw braid.
Business continued to prosper and in 1856 a new and larger building was erected. In November 1858 the firm was reorganized and Henry Hodges of Foxboro and J. T. D. Hersey of East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, were admitted as equal partners. Hodges and Hersey were at this time engaged in the straw-goods trade in New York. The new firm was known as Merrick, Fay & Co. at the Monson factory, and Hodges, Hersey and Co. at the New York salesroom.
Up to the time of the invention of the Bosword braid-sewing machine in 1863, all the braid-sewing and finishing was done by hand and the work put out to large numbers of Monson families (about one-third of the families in town were thus employed) and to colonies of workers in the surrounding
towns. As many as 1000 to 1200 sewers were employed by Merrick and Fay and another 300 people worked in the factory.
As one of the new sewing machines would do the work of 15 girls, the colonies of workers in other towns were gradually done away with, while at the same time, the volume of production increased.
The manufacture of men's and boys' hats was successfully introduced in 1863 and the plant expanded to accommodate this de- partment. Their first shop and the house next to it on the site of Brown's Drug Store were converted to boarding houses with sleeping quarters for up to 100 girls who came to Monson to work in the hat factory. Private homes also boarded these girls.
Many processes were involved in the man- ufacture of hats. The bleaching was done in sheds at the rear of the plant by dipping the skeins of braid in sal soda and hanging them in brimstone smoke. The braid was then sunned and the process repeated until de- sired whiteness was obtained. This often took a week. The braid was then dyed be- fore it went to the sewing room on the second floor.
As many as 130 girls worked here, each operating her own sewing machine. The tips were hard to start and the girls would often sew them by hand at home each night to be ready for the next day, as they were paid
The Sewing Room
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HISTORY OF MONSON
by the dozens of hats. It was possible to make 8 or 10 dozen coarse braid hats or 3 dozen fine braid hats a day. Fifty yards of the fine Milan braid imported from Italy and 150 yards of thread would be used to make one hat. The girls were paid about $3 per dozen for sewing of this type of hat. Can- ton braid was imported from China, split braid from Belgium and French braid and French chip (a braid made from wood fibre) came from France.
Glue sizing was melted in tanks and about four dozen hats were dipped at once. The blocking was done by pinning the hat to a plaster block greased with tallow to prevent sticking and tearing. After in- specting and mending, the hats were pressed
on a polished metal dye the exact shape of the hat. This dye had a rubber jacket thrust inside the hat and then was subjected to pressure. The hats were all one size as the milliners made necessary adjustments and trimmed them in their own shops.
The final step was shellacking to give a good gloss. Four to six dozen hats were packed into wooden boxes for shipment to New York. The box shop was added at the rear of the building in 1871.
Prices ranged from $4 per dozen for sailors, $18 per dozen for fine milan braid, to $28 a dozen for a fancy braid hat. Work was seasonal, beginning in October or No- vember when samples were made from the
PRING AND SUMMER STYLES
1887
MANUFACTURED BY
H. HODGES, SON & CO.
616 & 618
BROADWAY
NEW YORK
FACTORY AT -
MONSON, MASS.
EMPRESS.
SACKETT. WILHELMS & BETZIC. 45-51 ROSE ST. N Y.
ZANZA.
DIANA.
Fashion Advertisement of 1887
HISTORY OF MONSON
Page 71
latest Paris designs. Six thousand hats per day were made during rush season near Easter. The working day was from 7:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. with an hour for lunch. The Saturday closing time was 4:00 P.M. in the early years, and later 1:00 P.M.
Charles Merrick's son, Charles who was born in 1853, joined the firm in 1875. Rufus Fay's two sons, Rufus then 19 and Frederick 17 years old, were working for the firm in 1879 when their father died. The three sons continued to run the business until 1891 when they sold to Heimann and Lichten Co.
The new firm introduced the making of felt hats to keep the factory busy during the slack summer season. The "body" hats were purchased in rough form from factories at Amesbury, Massachusetts, and Danbury, Connecticut. At the Monson plant the hats were shaped and trimmed with silks and velvets purchased from the Cheney Mills of Manchester, Connecticut.
Julius Heimann, the supervisor, was very popular with the workers and the plant prospered until 1912 when the entire manu- facturing plant was destroyed by fire. Op- erations were continued at the Gage and Reynolds mill opposite Buckwell Nursing Home until the factory on Cushman Street, purchased from the Cushman family, could be enlarged and made ready.
Julius Heimann was killed in an auto accident in 1918 and his partner, Mr. Lich- ten died about a month later. D. E. Nolan assumed leadership of the factory from Mr. Lichten's death until 1927 when the doors were closed for the last time.
This was a sad day as the hat industry had meant much to the town. They had a reputation for hiring only the finest of help and many of our present families can trace the reason for settling in Monson to a desire of their parents or grandparents to work in the hat shop.
to mero and Lichten Stras Warso, Ma non. Mare
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Heimann-Lichten Hat Shop
In the early 1880's Alvin A. Gage and Rice Munn Reynolds formed the Columbia Straw Works, located opposite Buckwell Nursing Home. This was the same site where in 1857 Joseph L. Reynolds built the two-set steam mill which burned about June 1858.
The following description is found in the 1884 edition of Monson Illustrated with Pen and Camera by Charles W. Eddy, Ware, Massachusetts :
"Columbia Straw Works are engaged in the manufacture and finishing of straw goods: their product of sewed hats being about two hundred dozen daily. The finish- ing of Leghorn, Malaga and Chinese Hats is carried on quite extensively, they having facilities for finishing twenty-five thou- sand of this class daily. They also do quite a large business in finishing the finer class of goods known as Panama. In addition to the finishing of their own goods they finish a large amount of Palm Leaf and other hats for outside parties.
The main shop is three story and attic, one hundred and five by thirty-six feet, with an ell one hundred and ten by forty- two feet, two story and attic. The bleach and dye-house is seventy-five by twenty- five, in which they manufacture their wooden cases. The bleach houses are two hundred feet in length, and twelve in width; they also have other buildings for store- houses.
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